ALLIANCE FRANCAISE FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL – 50 IS THE NEW 30 – SOLD OUT!

Director, screenwriter and actress, the multi-talented Valérie Lemercier (Palais Royale, 2005; Les Visiteurs, 1993) takes on the central role of Marie-Francine in 50 Is the New 30; a romantic comedy in the purest sense of the genre about a woman hitting an awkward life juncture at age 50.

Even though Marie-Francine’s husband (Denis Podalydès) is a bore, the last thing she needs is to be kicked to the curb for a younger woman in the same week as being downsized out of her job as a chemical researcher. But that is exactly what happens. And her ‘solution’ to the problem is to move in with her overbearing parents and then act on their encouragement to open an e-cigarette boutique.

A Portuguese fado score foreshadows the arrival of chef Miguel, played by Patrick Timsit with the requisite charm of cinema’s best love interests. Marie-Francine discovers he harbours some embarrassing secrets of his own but, still, Miguel might be the perfect someone to help Marie-Francine lift her sagging spirit.

Thanks to the inimitable humour of Valérie Lemercier, this is the kind of rom-com that effortlessly rises above the predictability of other ‘comedie populaire’.